Birmingham Hip Resurfacing
Patient Journals, John Roach

Hip Confidential: Confessions of a Resurfaced Man

I am walking up the eighteenth fairway in the early autumn sun, with an easy par in sight. This will be my best round of golf in three years.

This time last year I was in a hospital bed, with staples in my rump and an IV in my arm, having taken the much-needed step of getting both of my hips resurfaced. Throughout the process I threatened John Rogerson and his remarkable staff that I would write about my experience.

I have waited a year to write this piece. Glad I did. Because it is only now that I have true perspective on the experience and its benefits.

For the last month or so I have had a giddy feeling. I finally figured out why. I am fully healed. For the first time in over a decade I am pain free.

My Advil bottle has dust on it.

The events leading to my Birmingham hip resurfacing is probably familiar to anyone reading this piece. I played high school sports, including football. I jogged for 25 years. I wore my hips out. At the age of fifty-three I walked like I was ninety-three.

When I was forty I went to my primary care physician complaining of hip pain, thinking I had pulled some soft tissue. He helped me with some stretching exercises, but as a precaution took some X-rays. He called me at home that evening to tell me that I had significant arthritis in both hips and that my jogging days were done.

For the next decade I biked, cross-country skied and golfed. Low impact exercise was the mantra. By the end I could do none of these things.

It is a sobering thing to be in too much pain to golf. Hell, when I was young I didn't even view golf as a sport. Anything some guy can do while smoking a cigarette couldn't be a sport.

And now my hips could not swing a club without breathtaking pain. Pathetic.

The decision to have big surgery is not an easy one. There are the interim solutions that must be tried. Stronger and stronger anti-inflammatories. Cortisone shots. Pain relievers of ever-increasing strength.

In my terminal phase of hip hell I was using a cane and avoiding social gatherings because I simply could not stand or sit for long periods of time. I am still finding vicodan in my shirt pockets.

In the ruthless ways of Irish Catholic families, my brothers did wickedly good imitations of me simply trying to get out of a chair, complete with groaning sound effects. They called me "Vito" in honor Vito Spatafore, a limping, hip-challenged character in "The Sopranos."

It was not so funny for my long-suffering wife. By the end she could not sleep because of my hips. She would be awakened every time I moved and moaned.

I was disabled. And forever changed for that experience.

There are many signs that Dr. John and his staff can help you identify before you make the decision to have surgery, but at the end there was just one simple fact that made me move ahead.

I was no longer me.

I was ready.

Do not kid yourself. Hip resurfacing is big surgery. Even bigger if you have never had surgery before.

Somehow before my first hip procedure I though the experience would be as easy as having a knee scoped. Silly me.

As shocked as I was at how much better my hip felt the next day, I was also shocked at how dependent I was on others in the hospital and at home. Shocked at how much humility you have to muster. Unprepared for the toll surgery takes on the body and mind.

Of course, I am a guy and a wimp. Any woman who has ever had a baby has free reign to mock me. I was also humbled to have my bride and kids take care of me when prior I felt it had been me taking care of them.

If there was one thing I learned after the first surgery, and I used it three months later for the second hip, it was that it does little good to fight or battle through the experience. Instead it is best to surrender.

First, trust and listen to John and his team. They are remarkable. They are smart and they care.

Also, allow folks to help you. Hell, use the handicap sticker they give you.

And be sure to be good to your spouse or personal care taker because they will be your savior for the three weeks following surgery.

Allow the pain meds to do their thing. Allow time before returning to work. And allow your body to heal in its own way.

And also be open to the amount of time it takes for you to fully heal.

And one tip. Join a health club with a rehab pool. I found it to be the single best thing to help me strengthen and heal. The warm water and weightlessness is heaven.

I also found that at the end of the day, the benefits of the Birmingham procedure are not about hips at all.

Sure, I now walk without a limp. I dance at wedding receptions.

But the most profound result of my experience is that I am free of the debilitating and insidious effects of chronic pain. Chronic pain that affects your life in ways you can't notice until has vanished.

For the last few weeks I have been telling my wife that I am as happy as I have been in my adult life. I am enjoying our house. My work. Our cabin. In ways I never have before. And I couldn't figure out why.

But then it dawned on me. I am now living a life without pain. The world looks pretty good if you are not viewing it through a grimace.

For that I will forever thank John Rogerson, Renee, Johanna, and all of the great members of their team.

If there is anyone out there who would welcome advice from a hip resurfacing veteran please feel free to contact me at jr1753@aol.com.

As I learned from John and his gang, it is a gift to be able to help those in pain. And you gotta pass it on.

Best,
John Roach

5/5/2008